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Viewpoint from Roger Hill  29/10/10

                                     
 
Viewpoint from Roger Hill
Member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
 

 

THE TWO WOLVES

 
What makes you and me tick? Psychologists and Theologians are generally agreed that without the conscience, civilisation would Dove rightcease to exist. One Christian writer said “Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions. When it is resisted the Spirit of God is grieved.” It is a pricking conviction, the still small voice of god. It is important we heed that still small voice every time it speaks it’s faintest whisper
 
How important is the conscience? How we respond to it will not only determine our morality and integrity but also our eternal destiny. Native American culture is strongly centred on storytelling. The elders of the tribe pass on stories about the ancestors that they had learned from their parents and grandparents
 
On one occasion a group of children approached a tribal elder and begged him to tell them a story. According to the legends of the tribe, every person at birth receives two wolves that live inside them. The wolves grow with each child and effect human behaviour throughout that person’s life. One wolf is the source of everything evil in life.  It promotes unkind, hurtful, deceitful, hateful and cruel behaviour. The other wolf prompts acts of kindness, truthfulness, love and mercy. The two wolves constantly battle each other inside, and a person’s behaviour reflects the wolf winning that day.  The children enthralled with the story, asked, “Which of the two wolves will win?” The wise elder paused dramatically for a few seconds and then answered “The one that you feed!” 
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As Christians we are careful to say the right things and do the right things but what about the right thoughts? Surely we should guard the avenues of the soul. What we watch and what we read affects our minds just the same as what we eat affects our bodies. I sometimes wonder what the Lord Jesus thinks about us as professed Christians when he sees us watching programs on tedove leftlevision depicting murder, rape, violence, theft, deceit, cruelty of every kind and thinking of it as entertainment. Particularly when you consider what He went through to give us the opportunity of salvation! You may reply by saying, “What is the remote control for.” Perhaps we should be setting a better example
 
Let me ask you this question.  “If you are a committed Christian do you have family worship?” Does religious instruction begin and end at the church service? I sometimes compare the time I spend in pursuing my own interests with the amount I spend serving God. The result can be quite sobering when you consider that most people spend at least 14 hours a week watching the TV
 
The Apostle Paul gives us good advice in Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 “Finally brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue any praise, think on these things.”   So - which of the two wolves are you feeding?